1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a cooking appliance including a hotplate disposed above heating elements to cook foods, especially meat.
A cooking appliance of this type has only one cooking function, in other words it can be used only to cook foods placed on the hotplate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This type of cooking appliance is described in French patent FR 93 04 688. In a manner that is known in itself, the hotplate has openings through which fat and juice pass during cooking to be collected in a container disposed substantially in line with the openings in the plate.
The collecting container, the heating elements and the hotplate are therefore stacked one above the other on the base of the appliance.
This appliance is designed to be used indoors or outdoors and to enable each diner to cook their own food. If required, the cooking appliance can be placed in the middle of a table.
However, it is common to provide accompaniments (vegetable, sauces, etc) to complete the meal based on the foods cooked on the hotplate. It is then necessary to use other cooking appliances or to encumber the table with other containers to contain the accompaniments.
An aim of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and to propose a cooking appliance enabling different methods of cooking foods to be used simultaneously.